Saturday, February 4, 2012

Headlines - Saturday February 4

The Komen Foundation Vice President in charge of ruining their brand, Karen Handel, is really an awful person in every way. Aravosis found this interview with Handel when she was running for GA governor less than two years ago.

"On October 11, I made public a letter I sent that day in the overnight mail to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asking him not to extend the invitation to Madonna. He chose not to respond; subsequently, the 53-year-old pop star was selected to perform at the Super Bowl. The ball is now in Goodell's court. Unfortunately for him, he no longer has control of it—Madonna does. Now let's see if she behaves. If she doesn't, Goodell will have to answer to all Americans." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue.

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Many Americans were shocked last month to learn that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney only paid an effective tax rate of 13.8 percent in 2010, but a recent report shows that corporations are paying even less.

Corporations in the U.S. paid only an average of 12.1 percent in taxes on the profits they earned inside the U.S in fiscal 2011, according to statistics from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The Wall Street Journalreports that it's the lowest percentage corporations have paid on those profits since at least 1972, and it's less than half of the 25.6 percent they paid on average between 1987 and 2008.

Corporations saw their profits, however, reach an all-time high at the end of 2010. The $1.68 trillion in annualized profits in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 beat the previous record of $1.65 trillion in the third quarter of 2006.

The Journal credited the low rate to a temporary tax break, known as "bonus depreciation," which allowed companies to immediately write off certain investments instead of taking write-offs over a period of years.

In an interview with NBC earlier this year, Romney flat-out stated that President Barack Obama had raised taxes on corporations.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has said the he would "create a boom of new American entrepreneurship by dramatically cutting the corporate tax rate" to 12.5 percent (PDF), one of the lowest in the developed world.

During his State of the Union Address last month, the president also opened the door to lowering the corporate rate "without adding to our deficit." In their 2010 report (PDF), the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board discussed lowering the marginal rate to 28 percent.

Apparently the only cure you're going to support if you donate money to this organization from now onwards are going to be faith-based cures -- I guess they're going to work on developing better prayers for praying the cancer out, sorta like praying the gay away. So if you're looking for an organization that supports real, evidence-based approaches to diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

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So, you are wondering, how do you ruin a successful brand and embroil yourself in a pointless controversy that scares the shit out of your corporate sponsors and enrages both the left and right wing of the political spectrum, all while doing it in such a ham-handed and offensive manner that you manage to get $3 million in donations to organization you want to destroy in just a few days? Hire this guy:

Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, secretly helped guide Komen Foundation's disastrous strategy regarding Planned Parenthood. Fleischer personally interviewed candidates for the position of "Senior Vice President for Communications and External Relations" at Komen last December. According to a source with first-hand knowledge, Fleischer drilled prospective candidates during their interviews on how they would handle the controversy about Komen's relationship with Planned Parenthood.

There is literally nothing the Bush gang can not screw up. Nothing. They have this reverse Midas touch, where everything they touch just goes to shit. They hire him to advise them into how to turn their vile theocratic fantasies into action, and here is what he accomplishes:

The outpouring of support online for Planned Parenthood and women in need of breast cancer screenings has been nothing short of astonishing, and because of it, the Planned Parenthood Breast Health Fund has received more than $3 million from thousands of people across the country in only three days.

Every dollar we received for this fund will go directly for breast exams and diagnostic services, as well as breast health outreach and education. And now that the Komen Foundation plans to continue their support, even more women will receive lifesaving breast cancer care.

Well done, Ari, Karen, and company. I can't remember another time when the ugliness of wingnuts led to a positive outcome. Well, there was also that 2008 election.

Springfield's Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell has joined religious leaders everywhere in a fierce reaction to the national healthcare law's mandate to include free contraceptives and other birth control.

McDonnell will release a letter at local Catholic Masses on Sunday denouncing the mandate as an attack on religious liberties of all faiths.

"The federal government, which claims to be 'of, by, and for the people,' has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people – the Catholic population – and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful," the letter reads, in part.

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"Catholic Bishops in principle are, of course, not opposed to health care in this country … but the government is really crashing though our constitutional protections. Our expectation is that if someone works for us they shouldn't violate any key moral principals we hold dear," and the church certainly shouldn't have to pay for it," said diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont.

First off, they aren't being forced to do anything- they could stop taking public money and do whatever they want. Second, if these octogenarian bullshit peddlers spent 1/100th the energy they spend focusing on rubbers and the pill instead worrying about their organization's global conspiracy of child rape and their gay-bashing, I'd actually maybe give a shit about their consciences and moral principles. But they don't, so screw 'em.

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Fun fact: Fox only mentioned the new unemployment rate 9 times through 2:30 yesterday afternoon, far less often than its competitors. Notably, Fox's less-ideological sister network Fox Business mentioned the rate three times more often:

You're not entitled "to special treatment under the law…[Marriage is] not a right, it's something that has existed since the beginning of human history as an institution where men and women come together for the purposes of forming a natural relationship as God made it to be. And for the purposes of having children and continuing that civilization. It is an intrinsic good…And as a result of that, we extend a privilege. We extend certain privileges to people who do that because we want to encourage that behavior. [...]

Two people who may like each other or may love each other who are same-sex, is that a special relationship? Yes it is, but it is not the same relationship that benefits society like a marriage between a man and a woman. –Frothy Santorum to a gay member of his audience